CHINA
Live fire in Gulf of Tonkin
The coast guard launched live-firing exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin yesterday, the latest in a series of military drills that come amid renewed tensions among disputants to territory in the South China Sea. The Maritime Safety Administration said ships and boats were barred from the area between its southern island province of Hainan and the northern coast of Vietnam from yesterday through Wednesday. The navy and air force have held a series of drills in surrounding waters since an international arbitration panel in The Hague, Netherlands, issued a ruling last month invalidating Beijing’s claim to virtually the entire South China Sea.
JAPAN
First lady visits Pearl Harbor
First Lady Akie Abe visited the US’ Pearl Harbor to pay tribute to the victims of the Japanese attack 75 years ago. Abe yesterday said on Facebook that she offered flowers and a prayer at the Arizona Memorial. She did not elaborate on her visit that comes amid looming speculation about a similar visit by her husband, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga acknowledged that the first lady was in Hawaii to attend an environmental conference. Speculation about Shinzo Abe’s possible visit to Pearl Harbor has grown since US President Barack Obama paid tribute in May to the victims of the US atomic bombing in Hiroshima. No serving Japanese prime minister has visited Pearl Harbor.
CAMBODIA
Police crack down on cheats
The nation deployed 1,570 police at high-school exam test sites across the country yesterday as part of a government crack down on bribery and corruption in the education system. Testing sites were cordoned off in the capital Phnom Penh and students were patted down by officials to check for cheat sheets and mobile devices as their relatives waited outside. “We are doing all of this to guarantee transparency and quality in the education system,” Ministry of Education spokesperson Ros Salin told reporters. In past years, students brought mobile phones and cheat sheets into exam rooms and bribed teachers to ignore cheating. Advocacy group Affiliated Network for Social Accountability Cambodia representative San Chey said cheating was deep-rooted in the education system. “Before, bribes in exams and test leaks were done openly, which helped to push up the pass rates,” he said. The government blitz on cheating has seen exam pass rates drop in recent years. In 2014, the Grade 12 exam pass rates was cut in half to 40.67 percent and last year it fell to 55.87 percent, according to Education Ministry figures.
NETHERLANDS
Militant admits guilt at trial
The trial of a Muslim militant over the destruction of holy sites in Timbuktu during Mali’s 2012 conflict began in The Hague yesterday, the first at the International Criminal Court to cite destroying cultural artifacts as a war crime. Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi pled guilty to ordering the 2012 attacks on the fabled city of Timbuktu, becoming the first person to plead guilty at the world’s only permanent war crimes court. “Your honour, regrettably I have to say that what I heard so far is accurate and reflects the events. I plead guilty,” Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi told the International Criminal Court after the solo charge of cultural destruction was read to him.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of